CHAKA RUNA ECOVILLAGE VISION
A place to live, learn and grow in the Peruvian Amazon
The Chaka Runa Ecovillage began with a retreat center, but the vision has always been larger. We are creating a place where people can retreat, live, learn, share knowledge and develop a deeper relationship with the rainforest.
THE ECOVILLAGE VISION
The four legs of the Chaka Runa Ecovillage
The Chaka Runa Ecovillage is being developed around four connected legs. Each has a different role, but together they shape the larger vision for the land: a place for retreat, community, learning and research within the rainforest.
1
Retreat Center
The part of the Ecovillage that already exists today. A place for Amazon Master Plant Dietas, ceremonies, personal retreat and time in the rainforest.
2
Residential Area
A future area for people who want to spend longer periods at the Ecovillage, build a home and become part of its developing community.
3
Shamanic School
A future place for the preservation and transmission of traditional Amazonian knowledge, creating opportunities for learning from experienced practitioners and elders.
4
Research
A future space for researchers interested in the rainforest, medicinal plants, ecology, ethnobotany, traditional knowledge and research connected to the Dieta experience.
The Retreat Center and medicinal plant garden are already established, while the other legs are still being developed.
THE ECOVILLAGE VISION
The four legs of the Chaka Runa Ecovillage
The Chaka Runa Ecovillage is being developed around four connected legs. Each has a different role, but together they shape the larger vision for the land: a place for retreat, community, learning and research within the rainforest.
01
Retreat Center
The part of the Ecovillage that already exists today. A place for Amazon Master Plant Dietas, ceremonies, personal retreat and time in the rainforest.
02
Residential Area
A future area for people who want to spend longer periods at Chaka Runa, build a home within the Ecovillage and become part of its developing community.
03
Shamanic School
A future place for the preservation and transmission of traditional Amazonian knowledge, creating opportunities for learning from experienced practitioners and elders.
04
Research
A future space for researchers interested in the rainforest, medicinal plants, ecology, ethnobotany, traditional knowledge and research connected to the Dieta experience.
The Retreat Center and medicinal plant garden are already established, while the other legs are still being developed.
The following sections explain where each part stands today and where we hope it can grow.
Maloca
THE FIRST LEG
The Retreat Center
The Retreat Center is the first fully developed part of the Chaka Runa Ecovillage. It was where the project began and remains the place where our Amazon Master Plant Dietas take place.
Set within more than 40 hectares of rainforest, the center includes the Maloca, private Tambos, the medicinal plant garden and the facilities participants need throughout their stay.
The Retreat Center is also the foundation from which the wider Ecovillage continues to grow.
Private Tambo
Paths & bridges
THE SECOND LEG
Residential Area
We envision the future Residential Area as a place for people who want to stay longer at the Ecovillage and become part of its community.
Concept visualization — planned Residential Area
More time after your Dieta
After a Dieta, many participants return almost immediately to their everyday lives. We would like to offer another possibility: a place to stay for a few days, several weeks or even months. This would give people more time in nature before returning home.
A longer stay in the rainforest
The Residential Area will also be for people who simply want to spend longer periods living in the rainforest. Some may work online from the Ecovillage, return for several months each year, or choose to make the Ecovillage a more permanent home.
Growing with care for the land
The Residential Area is planned mainly on land previously used as a cacao plantation. This allows the community to grow while leaving the surrounding native forest as undisturbed as possible.
A home within the community
We plan to give people the opportunity to buy and create their own home within the Ecovillage. They would also be able to rent their home to other guests or residents when they are away.
The aim is not simply to create housing. We want to gradually build a community of people who enjoy living closer to nature, sharing everyday life with others and participating in the wider vision of Chaka Runa.
THE THIRD LEG
Shamanic School
A tradition at a turning point
Traditional knowledge about medicinal plants, Dieta, ceremony and the rainforest has been passed from one generation to the next for a very long time. Today, however, that continuity can no longer be taken for granted.
Many younger people from local communities are drawn toward education, work and modern life in the cities. As lifestyles change, younger generations have fewer opportunities to learn traditional knowledge and practices from their elders in the ways they once did. At the same time, people from many parts of the world are becoming increasingly interested in understanding these traditions more deeply.
A place for deeper learning
One of our long term goals for the Chaka Runa Ecovillage is to create a Shamanic School where experienced practitioners and elders can pass on their knowledge. People committed to learning would have the time they need to study, practice and gain direct experience.
Keeping knowledge alive
The intention is not to create a short course in shamanism. Knowledge of this kind cannot simply be taken from its cultural context or learned in a few weeks. The school would provide a place where it can continue to be practiced, valued and transmitted with respect.
Through the school, we hope to keep traditional knowledge alive by connecting those who carry it with people who sincerely want to learn from them.
THE THIRD LEG
Shamanic School
A tradition at a turning point
Traditional knowledge about medicinal plants, Dieta, ceremony and the rainforest has been passed from one generation to the next for a very long time. Today, however, that continuity can no longer be taken for granted.
Many younger people from local communities are drawn toward education, work and modern life in the cities. As lifestyles change, there are fewer opportunities for some of the old knowledge and practices to be learned in the way they once were. At the same time, people from many parts of the world are becoming increasingly interested in understanding these traditions more deeply.
A place for deeper learning
One of the long term visions for the Chaka Runa Ecovillage is therefore to create a Shamanic School, where experienced practitioners and elders can pass their knowledge forward and where people who are genuinely committed to learning can spend the time needed to study, practice and gain direct experience.
Keeping knowledge alive
The intention is not to create a short course in shamanism. Knowledge of this kind cannot simply be taken from its cultural context or learned in a few weeks. The school would provide a place where it can continue to be practiced, valued and transmitted with respect.
In this way, Chaka Runa hopes to help create another path for traditional knowledge to remain alive, while connecting those who carry it with people who sincerely want to learn from it.
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THE FOURTH LEG
Research
The Chaka Runa Ecovillage and its Dieta programs offer a setting for future research. With more than 40 hectares of rainforest, cultivated medicinal plants and an established retreat center, researchers could study both the natural environment and people’s experiences with traditional plant practices.
We are open to collaborations with universities, research groups and individual researchers whose work fits the wider vision of the Ecovillage.
Rainforest
& biodiversity
Medicinal plants
& ethnobotany
Traditional
knowledge
Dieta & participant
research
Possible research directions
Research could explore ecology, biodiversity, medicinal plants and their cultivation, ethnobotany and traditional plant knowledge. Studies involving participants could take place before, during or after a Dieta.
Researchers might investigate changes in wellbeing, stress and other psychological measures. They could also measure physiological indicators such as cortisol or study biological markers associated with changes over time. Other topics could include sleep, integration, experiences during Dieta and the relationship between traditional practices and contemporary approaches to health and wellbeing.
Collaboration with care
Chaka Runa could host research at the Retreat Center and connect researchers with participants interested in taking part. Studies could follow participants through different stages of the Dieta process. All research involving participants would require appropriate ethical standards, informed consent and respect for their privacy.
Over time, we hope the Ecovillage can become a place where scientific research and traditional knowledge can meet, each offering a different way of understanding people, plants and the rainforest.
INTERESTED IN CONDUCTING RESEARCH AT THE ECOVILLAGE?
GROWING TOGETHER
Growing with the local community
The Chaka Runa Ecovillage is growing together with people from the surrounding region. Local team members help build, maintain and care for the land and the Retreat Center, creating jobs and longer term opportunities as the project develops.
We also want people to grow with the project through practical training, opportunities to learn new skills and involvement in different parts of Chaka Runa.
The relationship also goes beyond employment. Some people from the surrounding communities have joined ceremonies with us and experienced this side of Chaka Runa for themselves. In this way, the Ecovillage can become a place of exchange, where local knowledge and experience meet new skills, ideas and opportunities.
As the Ecovillage grows, we want that growth to benefit everyone involved: visitors, future residents and the people from the region who help shape it and make it possible.
THE ECOVILLAGE IS GROWING
Be part of what comes next
The Chaka Runa Ecovillage is still growing. Some parts already exist, while others are only beginning to take shape.
Subscribe to our newsletter for updates as the project develops. If you would like to get involved, we would be happy to hear from you.
Breathe - Surrender - Do your Work
GROWING TOGETHER
Growing with the local community
AYNI
A Quechua concept of reciprocity. To receive also means to give back.
The Chaka Runa Ecovillage is growing together with people from the surrounding region. Local team members help build, maintain and care for the land and the Retreat Center, creating jobs and longer term opportunities as the project develops.
We also want people to grow with the project. This includes practical training, learning new skills and becoming involved in different parts of Chaka Runa rather than simply coming here to work.
The relationship also goes beyond employment. Some people from the surrounding communities have joined ceremonies with us and experienced this side of Chaka Runa for themselves. In this way, the Ecovillage can become a place of exchange, where local knowledge and experience meet new skills, ideas and opportunities.
As Chaka Runa continues to grow, our intention is that this growth benefits not only the people who visit or choose to live here, but also the people from the region who help shape the Ecovillage and make it possible.
THE ECOVILLAGE IS GROWING
Be part of what comes next
The Chaka Runa Ecovillage is still growing. Some parts already exist, while others are only beginning to take shape.
If one part of the vision speaks to you, we would be happy to hear from you.